The ambition to be King of Scotland made Edward go to war with the Scots, and made him so cruel as to cut off the head of Sir William Wallace, because he wanted to save his own country from being conquered by Edward.

So you see ambition led Edward to do the two most cruel actions he was ever guilty of.

CHAPTER XXV.

EDWARD II.-1307 to 1327.

Why Edward the Second was called Prince of Wales; how his idleness and evil companions caused a civil war; how he was beaten by Robert Bruce at Bannockburn; how the Queen fought against the King and took him prisoner; and how her favourite, Mortimer, had King Edward murdered.

EDWARD the Second was made king after his father's death. He is often called Edward of Caernarvon, because he was born at a town of that name in Wales. He was the first English prince who was called Prince of Wales.

Since his reign the eldest son of the King of England has always been called so.

Edward of Caernarvon was the most unhappy man that ever was King of England.

And this was in great part his own fault.

He was very fond of all kinds of amusements, and instead of taking the trouble, while he was young, to learn what was good and useful for his people, so as to make them happy, he spent all his time in the company of young men as idle and as foolish as he was. One of the first of these was called Pierce

Gaveston. Edward I. begged his son to send that young man away from him, that he might get some wiser and better companions. But the prince was obstinate, and chose to keep him with him.

After Edward of Caernarvon became king this same Gaveston caused him a great deal of trouble. He made the king quarrel with his wife, Queen Isabella, who was very beautiful and very proud, and did not like to see the king always in the company of foolish young men.

Perhaps, however, if the queen had been goodtempered, she might have made the king better, and even have got him to send away his bad companions.

But she quarrelled with him, and complained of him to the barons; and as they were vexed because Edward spent all the money they had given to his father in making presents to Gaveston and his other companions, they joined with Isabella, and made war upon the king. So there was civil war for many years; and so many wicked things were done in that war, that I am sure you would not wish me to tell them. It ended by Gaveston being killed by order of the barons.

This civil war was hardly over before the king made war against Robert Bruce, the King of Scotland, and went with a large army into Scotland, but he was beaten at the battle of Bannockburn in such a manner that he was glad to get back to England, and to promise that neither he nor any of the kings of England would call themselves kings of Scotland again.

You would think that Edward would now have been wise enough neither to vex the barons and the people, by spending the money trusted to him foolishly, nor by choosing bad companions. But I am

sorry to say he did not grow wiser as he grew older, and the queen behaved as foolishly as before. The king chose a favourite of the name of Spencer: the queen's chief friend was a Welsh baron named Mortimer.

Very soon there was another civil war: the queen kept her eldest son Edward, the Prince of Wales, with her, and said she only fought against the king for his sake; and that if she did not, the king would give so much to Spencer that he would leave nothing for the prince.

At last the queen and her friends took the king prisoner. They shut him up in a castle called Berkeley Castle. They gave him bad food to eat, and cold and dirty water to drink, and to wash himself with. They never let him go into the open air to see any of his friends. This poor king was very soon murdered. The queen's favourite, Mortimer, being afraid the people would be sorry for poor Edward, when they heard how ill he had been used, and might perhaps take him out of prison, and make him king again, sent some wicked men secretly to Berkeley Castle, and they killed the king in such a cruel way that his cries and shrieks were heard all over the castle.

He had been king twenty years, but had not been happy one single year.

CHAPTER XXVI.

EDWARD III.-1327 to 1377.

How Queen Isabella was put in prison, and her favourite beheaded; how Queen Philippa did much good for the people; and how Edward the Third went to war to conquer France.

WHEN poor Edward of Caernarvon was murdered, his son, Prince Edward, was only fourteen years old.

Queen Isabella and her wicked friend Mortimer ruled the kingdom, as they said, only for the good of young Edward, who was made king. But in reality, they cared for nothing but their own pleasure and amusement, and behaved so ill to the people, that at last the young king's uncles and some other barons joined together, and put Mortimer in prison, and afterwards cut off his head. They put Queen Isabella in prison also: but as she was the king's mother, he would not let them kill her, although she was so wicked, but gave her a good house to live in, instead of a prison, as soon as he was able, and paid her a visit every year as long as she lived. When the young King Edward the Third was eighteen years old he took the kingdom into his own hands, and governed it wisely and happily.

In many things he was like his grandfather, Edward the First. He was wise and just to his own subjects. He was fond of war, but he was not cruel.

I must tell you a little about his wife and children, before we think of his great wars.

His wife's name was Philippa of Hainault. She was one of the best, and cleverest, and most beautiful women in the world.

She was very fond of England, and did a great deal of good to the people. A great many beautiful churches were built in Edward's reign, but it was Queen Philippa who encouraged the men who built them. She paid for building a college and new schools in Oxford and other places. She invited a French clergyman, named Sir John Froissart, to England, that he might see everything, and write about it in the book he called his Chronicles, which is the most amusing book of history I ever read. Queen Philippa and her son, John of Gaunt, who was called the Duke of Lancaster, loved and encouraged Chaucer, the first man who wrote poetry in English. By and by, when you are a little older, you will love to read the stories he wrote. Besides all this, Philippa encouraged those good men who wished to translate the Bible into English, so that all the people might read and understand it. In this reign the great people began to leave off talking Norman French and to talk English, almost like our English now. And the king ordered the lawyers to manage their business in English instead of French.

Queen Philippa had a great many children, all of whom she brought up wisely and carefully. Her eldest son Edward was called the Black Prince, it is said, because he used to wear black armour. He was the bravest and politest prince at that time in the world; and Queen Philippa's other sons and her daughters were all thought better than any family of princes at that time.

We must now think of the king and his wars. These wars made him leave England, and go to foreign countries very much; but as he left Queen Philippa to take care of the country while he was away, everything went on as well as if he had been at home.